Prayer of Thanksgiving

We gather together to ask the Lord's blessing;

He chastens and hastens his will to make known;

The wicked oppressing now cease from distressing,

Sing praises to his name: He forgets not his own.

Beside us to guide us, our God with us joining,

Ordaining, maintaining his kingdom divine;

So from the beginning the fight we were winning;

Thou, Lord, wast at our side, All glory be thine!

We all do extol thee, thou leader triumphant,

And pray that thou still our defender wilt be.

Let thy congregation escape tribulation;

Thy name be ever praised! O Lord, make us free!

Michael and I both sang in church today with a group preforming this hymn. The arrangement was from the Hymplicity books which are fabulous. They take the hymn and create a piano arrangement. The group sings from the hymnbook with a verse guide, such as men or women only, or parts only, or women singing soprano, men on alto, or other variations. They are very fun and easy for a ward choir that has limited talent or time to prepare musical numbers.

I was reminded of my love of Thanksgiving and the hymns of Thanksgiving. I often have debates with others about the "taboo" to listen to Christmas music before Thanksgiving. I personally think it is a ridiculous thing to argue about. I have never felt that listening to Christmas before Thanksgiving ruins my enjoyment of this unique North American holiday. YES my US friends, it is a North American holiday. Canadians celebrate it too, but they were smart enough to place the date the 2nd Monday of October. Closer to a true celebration of Harvest than when we celebrate it. (At least that is my opinion). I feel blessed to have lived in both countries and often as a family we have 2 Thanksgivings every year. It is a great time to remember the blessings that God has given us, and what a treasure of a land we live in.

Since I love Christmas music so much, and have come to cherish the Hymns of Thanksgiving just as much. When I was ward chorister in Wisconsin and started to plan the music, (my Branch president like me to have the music ready quartely, and often I would have it planned out for the year), I started to do Thanksgiving music the first Sunday in November. Just like I think it is a travesty to not sing Christmas music until the 2nd or 3rd week of December, (yes I have seen that happen,) or not sing it in Relief Society because tradition says we need to sing to match the topic, or my least favorite excuse to not sing Christmas: "is Joseph Smith's birthday so we need to sing of him," we need to celebrate and sing about Thanksgiving for more that just the Sunday before Thanksgiving. It adds to the month for me and reminds be continually grateful for all that we have been blessed.

Today was we sat through Sacrament meeting and listening to talks on gratitude and all the "good" things we have been blessed with, it occurred to me that paying tithing can bring Thanksgiving to us every time we hand that sacred money over to the church. Giving our tithing is that way to share our gratitude to the Lord for all he blessed and continues to bless us with. I have always tried to pay tithing with a willing heart, because it is giving back to the lord, but I have never thought or at least consciously thought of paying with a grateful heart. I can say today, that I learned something as I was preparing myself to teach a primary lesson on tithing. I don't know if the children walked out of the class learning anything about the sacredness of tithing, but I know I was taught by the spirit today on how to give in gratitude.

I am very, very grateful for that special quiet moment and how I was instructed by the gentle whisperings of the Spirit.

Abbie's 4 year pictures

I took Abbie to get her picture taken yesterday. She had been a bit of a crank during the day so I wasn't sure how it was gong to work. When Abbie is in a bad mood everyone knows it!

Surprise, Surprise, she was a little doll and charmed the photographer. She posed and was cute, chattered and giggled. It was a joy to see her happiness and laughter during the session.

The little hat was one her Aunt Snobaybe knitted for her as a birthday gift. She got it the day of my parents anniversary and she has loved it since. She wants to wear it all the time, and I think she looks mighty cute in it. Don't you agree?

Lunch Time Conversation

My girls have specific things like, and they like it everyday. Lunch is a perfect example. Not just eating lunch but what they want for lunch and how they want it. Kendra typically wants Peanut Butter and jam cut into triangles, and Abbie wants Bologna and Cheese cut into squares. On the odd occasion I forget and cut the sandwiches incorrectly and boy do I hear about it.

Yesterday was one such day. I started to cut up Kendra's sandwich in squares, oops. I caught myself in the process, and she ended up with two squares and one rectangle. (She has been wanting 2 triangles instead of 4, I guess she is growing up.)

So as she is eating lunch, she is telling me I am silly. I tell her if I'm silly she is silly because she is my daughter. We go on like that for a short period of time, when Abbie, pipes in an age old question.

"Mom were you silly when you were little?"

Humm, maybe I was?

I told her she would have to ask Grandma and Grandpa to find out.

What do you think the answer will be?

Guess the song?

Abbie has been singing a song, see if you can guess what it is?


Fairy Mary, Every Mary.......



any guesses yet? Do you have any idea? Okay, I will give you a few more words.......


Ready?


Oh come on already?


Okay, Okay.



Fairy Mary, Every Mary, March, April, May, June, July, August, September, October, November and December.

Do you get it now? Don't you love to hear how children hear words in songs. She says January and February just fine, but get her to sing it in a song it makes me laugh.

Changes, Changes, Changes

Life is full of changes. It always happens, something we can't stop. I don't always do well with change but this time I seem to be much better. Not that the changes are bad, but it always throws a bit more complexity at times.

Michael was called to be the Ward Executive Secretary. He is of course, humbled, worried and as always desires to do the best he can. I know he will be good at it because he is one of the most dedicated people I know and very organized when it comes to tasks he needs to do. He is adjusting to not being in the Elder's Quorum Presidency, but since he had been in that for over 4 years, (he was placed in it just before Abbie was born) it was time for him to have a change.

I have been released as a Relief Society teacher and called to teach in the Primary. The thought almost terrifies me. I have never taught Primary before and I wonder can I be effective to teach the basics in a method the children can understand? I doubt my own patience and abilities, but I will go forth the best I can. I'm not as depressed as I was last time I released from teaching Relief Society. Maybe because I knew it was time. I have been privileged to teach all the odd lessons from the Joseph Smith Manual. I only will have missed lesson 1 and the last lesson 47. How is that for a string? I really enjoyed teaching it but I found my last 3 lessons to be a struggle. My lesson was canceled in September, and the lessons for October and November, and December where all so close in topic and theme. It was almost a relief to not have to teach the last one.
Then I discovered that the next manual was going to be Gospel Principles. Not that I mind Gospel Principles, but I wasn't sure how I felt about teaching it in RS. I guess the was the spirit preparing me for my release.

My biggest disappointment is that once again I will be missing a year of the Old Testament. I LOVE the Old Testament. I love the stories and the prophecies, and how it all foreshadows the coming of Christ. I think it is the most misunderstood and least read book of scripture in our Church. Personally it is a shame because it is filled with a richness of tradition and symbolism. I always seem to miss the teachings of the Old Testament. I wonder why that is? Maybe Heavenly Father knows I love it so someone else needs the opportunity to sit in the class?
Once I finish reading the Book of Mormon, I will be picking up the Old Testament and feasting on it no matter what.

It is my busy time of year. I was going to do Gratitude posts like I did in the past but fell short on that. Not sure what I will do for Christmas this season on my Blog. Maybe I will get some inspiration somewhere?

On another note, I removed Waters of Mormon from my blog list. I have visited there lately and have become very disgruntled in the tone of the blog. I see value in discussion but when it seems they downplay the seriousness of some sins, and the words of the Living Prophets on certain topics I am disturbed. I found myself feeling like I do when I visit the feminist blogs. YUCK. I heard a great quote yesterday morning.

Intellectualism is when one asks questions, not to find the answer but to always ask more questions and not be satisfied; where as asking a question to learn is noble and good. I think that is what I find in many of these blog site, they are becoming Intellectualized rather than a place of learning and sharing.

Another Article to make my day! Not

When I first heard that our Now President Obama had ties and associations with William Ayers, I was concerned about how he would look at the terrorists held at Gitmo. How can a man that has had business dealings with a known terrorist deal harshly with some others. Now he will be bringing them into the country for a CIVIL Trial! What have we come to? I can't say I know the right answer, but this surely can't be it. Will the people that died on 9/11 have justice?

I thought Option meant?

Interesting, I always thought the word option, meant choice, availability, take it or leave, not required? Hummmm, seems Nancy Pelosi has another definition of OPTION, Take it or else Jail time.

Mom and Dad's anniversary party went so well. I hope you enjoy the slide show. My camera died so thanks to Marlei and Brynn for the pictures that they posted on facebook so I could get more!

I was so happy to see all the support and love from friends and family that traveled to see them on this very monumental day in their lives. I think my mother would have been happy to let it quietly go by, but we determined to not let that happen. My sisters and I love them too much to let it go by. They had all their daughters there, and most of their grandchildren. Jordan and Stephanie couldn't make it, well for a little 7lb 15 oz reason. They welcomed Tobias (Tobi) into the world about 45 minutes before the party was to start, so he made the 3rd great grandchild. Tyler and Kelly also could not make it and they were very much missed. They are expecting soon and that will be great grand baby number 4.

I wanted to thank my sisters for all their help. Noelie was so sick this past month, but she helped me find ideas on the internet and gave me much needed moral support. I know she wanted to do more, but what could she do when she could barely get through work. I hope she gets better soon. I feel so bad for her.

Cindilou, did the drinks, she made lemon water and another bowl with sprite and frozen berries. It look beautiful and tasted so good.

Snobaybe gathered up some pictures, scanned them and sent them to Brynn. She wanted to do more, but apparently she did not get the messages I sent on facebook. Oops. So I felt bad about that.

Brynn, she gathered up pictures and made up a beautiful digital scrapbook for Mom and Dad. It was a sweet gift and turned out so well.

Robert, Jayson, Noelie, Randy, Snobaybe, Cindilou, Aunt Delene, and my wonderful husband came early to help set up, and Marlei was so wonderful at entertaining the kids, she amazes me. Honestly Marlei, maybe you should be a kindergarten teacher!

I loved all the people that came to share this day with my parents, friends in the ward, friends from years past. I could see the blessing it was to my parents to see all those that do love them for the special and wonderful people they are. What a blessing they are to me. I was grateful for the chance to visit with a very, very good friend. We keep trying to get together and for some dumb reason it never happens. Goodness I need to fix that. Her daughter was so cute with my girls.

One of the cutest moments of the night was when Marlei, Natasha, Collin, Kendra, Abbie, Ellie, Noah, and my friends daughter sang "I am a Child of God" to Grandma and Grandpa. It touched my heart because it is my dad's favorite Primary song. I think they are willing to adopt another grandchild! She is adorable.

As you can tell I am very blessed, and very grateful for the 5th commandment, to Honor thy Father and Mother.

Thank you mom and dad. I love you!